380+ Names That Mean Liar or Trickster (Sly, Cunning & Devious Picks for 2026)

Here is the honest secret most name lists will not tell you: almost no name in any language actually means liar. Parents avoided the word for centuries, so the real pool is tiny, and the rest of the internet quietly fills the gap with foxes, gods and famous fibbers.

That is why this list of names that mean liar or trickster is split into two honest tiers. You get the rare names that literally mean liar or deceiver first, then 383 total picks covering the trickster figures, sly word names and story characters people actually want the vibe from.

Key Takeaways

• Only a small set of names literally mean liar, and they are listed separately so you are never misled.
• Most searches are really for a character name or a playful baby name, and trickster figures serve both better.
• Mythology is the deepest source, with a named trickster in almost every culture on earth.
• For a real baby, choose the mischief and cunning end of the list, not the deceiver and betrayer end.

Top 15 Trickster Names at a Glance

Short on time, or naming tonight? These fifteen carry the trickster idea most clearly, from literal liar names to the gods every culture knows.

• Loki: Norse god of mischief, the most recognised trickster name in the world right now.
• Anansi: Akan spider trickster who beats stronger animals with stories and nerve.
• Coyote: Native American trickster and creator, brilliant and foolish in the same tale.
• Hermes: Greek messenger god who stole cattle and lied about it on his first day of life.
• Reynard: Medieval fox hero, so famous his name became the French word for fox.
• Kitsune: Japanese fox spirit, shape shifter and master of illusions.
• Puck: English fairy prankster, the Robin Goodfellow of folklore and Shakespeare.
• Maui: Polynesian demigod who slowed the sun, stole fire and fished up islands.
• Eshu: Yoruba orisha of crossroads and chance, the messenger who tests everyone.
• Wukong: China’s Monkey King, a rebel who tricked heaven itself.
• Raven: Pacific Northwest trickster who stole the sun, moon and stars for the world.
• Krishna: Hindu god whose childhood pranks and clever tricks fill whole story cycles.
• Fox: The animal name itself, shorthand for sly in dozens of languages.
• Dolios: Greek epithet meaning deceitful, used for both Hermes and Odysseus.
• Cozbi: Biblical name rooted in the Hebrew word for a lie, a true literal pick.

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Names That Literally Mean Liar or Deceiver

This is the shortest honest list on the internet, because the meaning itself is rare. What follows mixes the few real given names with personifications and word names, each labelled for what it is.

• Cozbi: Hebrew, from kazab, meaning lie or deception, the Midianite princess in the Book of Numbers.
• Anwir: Welsh, literally untrue or false, recorded as a rare given name.
• Dolios: Greek, deceitful or crafty, an epithet of gods and heroes rather than a common name.
• Dolos: Greek spirit of cunning deception and crafty trickery, apprentice of Prometheus.
• Apate: Greek personification of deceit and fraud, a daughter of Night.
• Pseudologos: Greek, literally false speech, the spirit of lies in Greek myth.
• Fraus: Roman personification of fraud and deceit, the counterpart of Apate.
• Druj: Avestan, literally the Lie, the force opposed to truth in Zoroastrian belief.
• Warlock: Old English waerloga, oath breaker, a word name rather than a traditional given name.
• Laverna: Roman goddess of thieves, cheats and fraudsters, honoured near a gate of Rome.
• Ginnlaug: Old Norse name built on ginn, deceptive magic, rare even in the saga age.
• Jaakobah: Hebrew biblical name tied to Jacob, the heel grabber who twice outwitted his brother.
• Sinon: The Greek soldier whose lie about the wooden horse fooled Troy, a liar by deed.
• Mendax: Latin, literally lying or a liar, a word name used in modern fiction.
• Usotsuki: Japanese, literally liar, included honestly as the exact word, not a traditional name.
• Celwydd: Welsh, literally a lie or falsehood, another honest word entry most lists invent around.

Boy Names That Mean Liar or Trickster

Boy picks lean on gods, heroes and famous fibbers rather than literal meanings. Glosses below tell you which kind each one is, so a cool sound never hides a dark story.

• Loki: Norse god of mischief and shape shifting, playful in some tales, dangerous in others.
• Hermes: Greek god of thieves, travellers and clever talk, a trickster from birth.
• Odysseus: Greek hero whose wooden horse and quick lies won the Trojan War.
• Autolycus: Greek prince of thieves, grandfather of Odysseus and proud of his craft.
• Prometheus: Titan who tricked Zeus twice and stole fire for mankind.
• Sisyphus: Greek king who cheated death twice before his famous punishment.
• Coyote: The great trickster of many Native American story traditions.
• Anansi: West African spider man whose tales crossed the Atlantic with the diaspora.
• Reynard: The fox of medieval beast tales, outwitting the wolf in story after story.
• Puck: Merry English sprite who leads travellers astray for fun.
• Maui: Polynesian demigod, part hero and part prankster, always both.
• Eshu: Yoruba messenger orisha who carries prayers and stirs useful trouble.
• Legba: Fon and Vodou gatekeeper, the first spirit approached in ceremony.
• Iktomi: Lakota spider trickster, vain, funny and forever teaching by failing.
• Nanabozho: Anishinaabe teacher and trickster who shaped the world in story.
• Gwydion: Welsh magician who stole the pigs of Pryderi with a brilliant deception.
• Taliesin: Welsh bard said to have shape shifted through many forms to escape a goddess.
• Manannan: Irish sea god and illusionist, master of mists and disguise.
• Janus: Roman god of two faces, looking to past and future at once.
• Mercury: Roman form of Hermes, god of trade, thieves and fast talk.
• Till: From Till Eulenspiegel, the German folk prankster whose tricks fill a famous chapbook.
• Wukong: The Monkey King, born from stone and forever mocking authority.

Girl Names That Mean Liar or Trickster

Girl picks draw on deceiver goddesses, fox wives and women who outwitted kings. As with the boys, each gloss separates literal meanings from famous associations.

• Apate: Greek deceit itself in goddess form, as literal as this list gets.
• Laverna: Roman protector of thieves and frauds, a name with a soft sound and a sharp past.
• Delilah: Biblical figure who coaxed out Samson’s secret and betrayed him.
• Jezebel: Biblical queen remembered as a manipulator and deceiver of prophets.
• Circe: Greek enchantress who turned visitors into animals and bargained with Odysseus.
• Morgan: From Morgan le Fay, the Arthurian enchantress who schemes against Camelot.
• Morrigan: Irish phantom queen, shape shifter and mistress of battle confusion.
• Blodeuwedd: Welsh flower woman who plotted against her husband Lleu in the Mabinogion.
• Metis: Greek Titaness whose name simply means cunning wisdom.
• Eris: Greek goddess of discord, whose golden apple started the Trojan War.
• Ate: Greek goddess of delusion who leads gods and men into ruin.
• Maya: Sanskrit for illusion, the cosmic trick that hides reality.
• Mohini: Vishnu’s enchantress form, who tricked demons out of the nectar of immortality.
• Kuzunoha: Japanese fox wife whose name is tied to a beloved folk tale.
• Tamamo: From Tamamo no Mae, the legendary nine tailed fox of Japanese courts.
• Yako: Japanese word for a wild fox spirit, the less tame side of kitsune lore.
• Inari: Japanese deity of foxes, rice and prosperity, served by white fox messengers.
• Scheherazade: The storyteller who outwitted a murderous king for a thousand and one nights.
• Vixen: English word name for a female fox, playful rather than dark.
• Renarde: Feminine French form built on renard, the fox of the medieval tales.

Trickster Names From Mythology Around the World

Almost every culture keeps one figure who breaks the rules so the world can change. These sections gather the major traditions, from Norse mischief to Pacific Raven.

Norse Trickster Names

Norse myth runs on Loki, but Odin himself works in disguise often enough to earn a place here.

• Loki
• Loptr
• Logi
• Utgarda-Loki
• Skrymir
• Odin
• Bolverk
• Grimnir
• Harbard
• Gestumblindi
• Ygg
• Andvari
• Regin
• Thjazi

Greek and Roman Trickster Names

Greek myth separates the jobs: Hermes steals, Dolos deceives, Apate is deceit itself.

• Hermes
• Mercury
• Dolos
• Apate
• Ate
• Eris
• Prometheus
• Sisyphus
• Autolycus
• Odysseus
• Sinon
• Proteus
• Momus
• Janus
• Fraus
• Laverna
• Metis
• Daedalus
• Circe
• Pseudologos

African Trickster Names

In West African traditions the small and clever beat the big and strong, a lesson the diaspora carried worldwide.

• Anansi
• Kwaku Anansi
• Ture
• Eshu
• Elegba
• Legba
• Ijapa
• Mbeku
• Bouki
• Leuk
• Sungura
• Kalulu
• Compere Lapin
• Brer Rabbit

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Native American Trickster Names

Here the trickster is often also the creator, which is why Coyote and Raven can be sacred and ridiculous in the same breath.

• Coyote
• Ma’ii
• Old Man Coyote
• Iktomi
• Nanabozho
• Wisakedjak
• Raven
• Yehl
• Txamsen
• Glooscap
• Saynday
• Veeho
• Nihancan
• Kokopelli
• Blue Jay
• Mink

Celtic Trickster Names

Celtic traditions favour magicians and shape shifters over simple pranksters, with Gwydion the standout deceiver.

• Puck
• Puka
• Robin Goodfellow
• Gwydion
• Math
• Manannan
• Lugh
• Taliesin
• Merlin
• Morgan
• Morrigan
• Blodeuwedd
• Leprechaun
• Hob

Hindu Trickster Names

Play, called lila, is divine in Hindu stories, which is why Krishna’s pranks sit beside Shakuni’s dice in the same tradition.

• Krishna
• Kanha
• Gopala
• Mohini
• Vamana
• Narada
• Maya
• Shiva
• Indra
• Shakuni
• Manthara
• Putana
• Tenali
• Birbal

Chinese and Polynesian Trickster Names

Fox spirits dominate the Chinese lists, while the Pacific gives the world Maui, the most likeable rule breaker in mythology.

• Sun Wukong
• Sun Tzu
• Daji
• Huli Jing
• Hu Xian
• Tushan
• Nezha
• Zhu Bajie
• Maui
• Tikitiki
• Kaulu
• Kupua
• Pili
• Kamapua’a

Names That Mean Trickster in Japanese

Japanese folklore does trickery better than anywhere else, because its fox and raccoon dog spirits trick for fun, love and revenge in equal measure.

Kitsune Names

Kitsune grow wiser and gain tails with age, and the oldest are said to bend space, time and dreams.

• Kitsune: The fox spirit itself, a word name that covers a thousand stories.
• Kuzunoha: The fox wife who loved a human and mothered the seer Abe no Seimei.
• Tamamo no Mae: The nine tailed fox who bewitched an emperor and fled as a killing stone.
• Genkuro: The loyal fox of kabuki fame who disguised himself as a retainer.
• Hakuzo: The white fox who lived disguised as a priest in a famous tale.
• Inari: The great fox deity of rice and prosperity, worshipped at thousands of shrines.
• Nogitsune: The wild fox, untamed by any shrine and blamed for darker tricks.
• Zenko: The good foxes, celestial messengers who serve Inari.
• Tenko: The highest rank of fox spirit, a thousand years old and nearly a god.
• Kuko: The air fox of old lore lists, often painted darker than its kin.
• Shippo: The fox child of modern anime fame, small, loyal and fond of tricks.
• Kurama: The fox demon of modern manga and anime, proud and ancient.

Tanuki Names

Tanuki are the cheerful drunks of Japanese folklore, shape shifting for sake, gold and a good joke rather than revenge.

• Tanuki: The raccoon dog spirit itself, belly drumming symbol of good fortune and mischief.
• Danzaburo: The wealthy tanuki lord of Sado Island, lender of phantom money.
• Shibaemon: The Awaji tanuki who lived as a human and died defending that life.
• Yashima no Hage: The bald tanuki of Yashima, counted among Japan’s three famous tanuki.
• Inugami Gyobu: The tanuki chief of Matsuyama, said to command hundreds of followers.
• Kincho: The golden, fortunate tanuki of Awa, a protective rather than wicked spirit.
• Bunbuku: From Bunbuku Chagama, the tanuki who became a lucky tea kettle.
• Shojoji: The tanuki of the famous temple song, drumming on his belly by moonlight.
• Kachi Kachi: The villainous tanuki of Kachi Kachi Yama, darker than most of his kind.
• Ponkichi: The tanuki elder of the film Pom Poko, modern but widely loved.

Names That Mean Sly or Cunning

This section exists because of a translation fact: the fox is the world’s shorthand for sly, so fox words in other languages are the truest sly names you can give.

• Fox: English, the animal itself, used as a name since the surname era.
• Renard: French for fox, fixed in the language by the medieval Reynard tales.
• Todd: A fox in Middle English and Scots dialect, long used as a boy name.
• Tod: Scots for a fox, the shorter and rarer form of Todd.
• Voss: Dutch and Low German for fox, mostly known as a surname.
• Fuchs: German for fox, pronounced fooks, a surname with a sharp sound.
• Volpe: Italian for fox, elegant as both first name and surname.
• Zorro: Spanish for fox, made heroic by the masked swordsman of California.
• Lis: Polish for fox, short, clean and unisex in feel.
• Roka: Hungarian for fox, with a soft sound that suits a girl name.
• Kettu: Finnish for fox, a playful word name still rare outside Finland.
• Alopex: Greek alopex, fox, also the old scientific genus name for foxes.
• Vulpes: Latin for fox and the modern genus name, a bold word name.
• Fennec: The tiny desert fox, a nature name with real character energy.
• Metis: Greek for cunning wisdom, strategy rather than deceit.
• Sly: The English word itself, short and unmistakable as a name choice.
• Wily: English word name meaning crafty, kept famous by a cartoon coyote.
• Corsac: The steppe fox of Central Asia, a rare nature word name.

Names That Mean Mischief

Not every reader wants a deceiver. This is the baby friendly end of the list, word names and figures that mean harmless trouble and nothing worse.

• Mischief
• Mayhem
• Chaos
• Rascal
• Scamp
• Imp
• Rogue
• Jester
• Joker
• Jinx
• Trouble
• Ruckus
• Riot
• Lark
• Prank
• Hoax
• Shenanigan
• Malarkey
• Bamboozle
• Sprite
• Pixie
• Gremlin
• Hob
• Monkey

Names That Mean Two-Faced or Betrayer

Handle this section with care: these names belong to fiction and history far more than to real children. They are here because writers search for exactly this weight.

• Janus
• Judas
• Brutus
• Cassius
• Delilah
• Jezebel
• Iago
• Mordred
• Ganelon
• Ephialtes
• Ahithophel
• Ananias
• Benedict
• Quisling
• Grima
• Petyr
• Absalom
• Doeg
• Cain
• Lady Macbeth

Trickster Names From Literature and History

Writers reached the trickster long before baby name sites did. These are the liars, con artists and story spinners of the canon, from Odysseus to Ostap Bender.

• Odysseus
• Ulysses
• Autolycus
• Falstaff
• Munchausen
• Pinocchio
• Eulenspiegel
• Nasreddin
• Scheherazade
• Rumpelstiltskin
• Tom Sawyer
• Becky Sharp
• Moll Flanders
• Felix Krull
• Chichikov
• Ostap Bender
• Fagin
• Long John Silver
• Uriah Heep
• Raffles
• Lupin
• Fantomas
• Rocambole
• Puss in Boots

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Modern and Pop Culture Trickster Names

Modern tricksters wear better costumes. Animation, games and fantasy series now supply most of the names young parents and writers actually ask for.

• Sylvie
• Wade Wilson
• Bugs Bunny
• Daffy Duck
• Wile E. Coyote
• Joker
• Tyrion
• Varys
• Q
• Discord
• Bill Cipher
• Jack Sparrow
• Mr. Gold
• Naruto
• Tomoe
• Yae Miko
• Hisoka
• Gin
• Aizen
• Lelouch
• Light
• Kefka
• Wheatley
• Crowley

Trickster Names for Characters: Villains, Rogues and Antiheroes

Writers, this section was built for you. These are original full name combinations in a trickster register, ready to drop into a novel, script or game.

• Silas Crowe
• Felix Vane
• Dorian Locke
• Cassius Vale
• Milo Thorne
• Jasper Quill
• Hugo Marlowe
• Ezra Flint
• Lucian Cross
• Tobias Wren
• Ambrose Fell
• Gideon Marsh
• Nathaniel Rook
• Victor Hale
• Damian Frost
• Roland Pierce
• Adrian Wolfe
• Cornelius Ash
• Magnus Reed
• Alaric Stone
• Edmund Graves
• Theodore Lark
• Percival Night
• Xavier Thorn
• Lucius Crane
• Mortimer Voss

Last Names That Mean Liar or Trickster

True liar surnames barely exist, for the same reason the given names are rare. Most of these descend from fox nicknames given to a sly ancestor, or from trickster figures themselves.

• Fox
• Foxx
• Todd
• Fuchs
• Volpe
• Volpi
• Renard
• Lis
• Liska
• Roka
• Voss
• Goupil
• Coyote
• Raven
• Crowe
• Corbett
• Loke
• Trickett
• Trick
• Kitsune

Animal and Nature Trickster Names

Story traditions worldwide cast the same few animals as tricksters again and again. If a culture tells trickster tales, one of these creatures is usually in them.

• Fox
• Coyote
• Raven
• Crow
• Magpie
• Jay
• Jackal
• Hyena
• Spider
• Hare
• Rabbit
• Monkey
• Mink
• Otter
• Ferret
• Weasel
• Stoat
• Marten
• Raccoon
• Tanuki
• Cat
• Mouse
• Snake
• Serpent
• Scorpion
• Wolf

How to Choose a Name That Means Trickster or Liar?

Start by deciding which job the name has to do, because a baby, a novel villain and a game character need three different kinds of trickster.

For a baby, stay at the playful end: mischief, cunning and fox names, plus gentler figures like Puck or Maui. Read the full myth before you commit, because some tricksters end their stories very darkly, and a name like Loki carries a Marvel hero and a god who helps end the world at the same time. Check the sound in your own language too, since several names on this page are insults or jokes in the culture they come from.

For a character, the darker tiers are your raw material. Match the name to the method: a Dolos or Apate deceives by nature, a Sinon lies once and changes history, a Reynard charms his way out of every trap. Writers on forums make the same complaint about lazy picks, and Loki tops that list, so reach one shelf deeper, to Autolycus, Gwydion or Ostap Bender, and your trickster will feel fresh before he says a word.

FAQs

What name literally means liar?

Cozbi is the clearest example, rooted in the Hebrew word kazab, meaning a lie or deception. Anwir in Welsh and the Latin word name Mendax are two other rare literal options.

What is a good name for a trickster character?

Reynard, Autolycus and Gwydion give a trickster instant depth, while original picks like Silas Crowe or Felix Vane suit modern villains and rogues.

Are trickster names appropriate for babies?

The playful ones are, such as Puck, Maui, Fox and the mischief word names. Save the deceiver and betrayer names, like Apate or Judas, for characters instead.

What is the most popular trickster name for boys?

Loki is by far the most used, helped by both Norse myth and the Marvel films. Hermes, Fox and Coyote follow well behind it in name searches.

What Norse name means mischief?

Loki is the Norse name tied to mischief, the god whose pranks drive many of the myths. His older byname Loptr appears in the poems as well.

Conclusion

A trickster name is never just a sound. It carries a story about bending rules, talking fast and surviving on wit, which is exactly why these names keep being searched for.

Choose the tier that fits your purpose, playful for a child, shadowed for a character, and the name will do half the storytelling for you.

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